Serbiahttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/serbia
en-usSun, 18 Feb 2018 02:56:36 -0500Sun, 18 Feb 2018 02:56:36 -0500The latest news on Serbia from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/oliver-ivanovic-kosovo-serb-politician-shot-dead-terrorism-2018-1A leading Kosovo Serb politician was shot dead outside his office and Serbia says it's an act of terrorismhttp://www.businessinsider.com/oliver-ivanovic-kosovo-serb-politician-shot-dead-terrorism-2018-1
Tue, 16 Jan 2018 11:09:11 -0500Fatos Bytyci and Ivana Sekularac
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a5e1d9728eecc120f8b4ec4-1240/oliver ivanovic crime scene.jpg" alt="Oliver Ivanovic crime scene" data-mce-source="Associated Press" data-mce-caption="Police officers guard a scene where unknown assailants opened fire on Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic in front of his office in the northern, Serb-dominated part of Mitrovica, Kosovo, January, 16, 2018." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Ethnic Serb politician&nbsp;Oliver Ivanovic led a small political party in Kosovo and was known as a&nbsp;relative moderate.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Though he had a troubled past for previous actions against Kosovo's Albanian majority, he was known for cooperating with NATO, UN and EU officials in an order to establish a strong democracy in Kosovo.</strong></li>
<li><strong><strong>Tensions between Kosovo's Albanian majority and Serb minority are becoming increasingly strained, especially in the divided town of Mitrovica, where Ivanovic lived.</strong></strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />PRISTINA/BELGRADE (Reuters) - Kosovo Serb leader<span>&nbsp;Oliver&nbsp;</span><span>Ivanovic</span>, who was standing trial over the killings of ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war, was shot dead on Tuesday in what Serbia called an act of terrorism.</p>
<p>The killing increased tension between Kosovo and Serbia and an ongoing round of European Union-sponsored dialogue on a normalization of relations that was due to take place in Brussels was suspended at the request of Belgrade.</p>
<p>The European Union and United States called on both sides to remain calm and for Kosovo authorities to bring the killers to justice without delay. They also urged authorities in Kosovo, a former Serbian province that won independence a decade ago, and Serbia to recommit to working for a normalization of relations.</p>
<p>Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called an emergency session of the country's National Security Council.</p>
<p>"For the Serbian state this is considered an act of terrorism," Vucic said afterward, and Belgrade would demand to be included in the investigation. He declined to comment on whether he believed the killing was ethnically motivated.</p>
<p><span>Ivanovic</span>, 64, was gunned down in front of his party office in Mitrovica, a town bitterly divided between ethnic Serbs and Albanians, shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT). He was taken to a hospital but doctors failed to revive him.</p>
<p>There were no witnesses to the attack and no shots were heard, suggesting the weapon used had been fitted with a silencer, Serbian media reported. Tanjug news agency quoted his lawyer as saying<span>&nbsp;Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>was shot at least five times.</p>
<p>Police said they found a burnt-out Opel car in the town after the shooting and suspected it was linked to the attack. They offered 10,000 euros ($12,225) to anyone with information that would resolve the case and provided a secure phone line.</p>
<p>The Kosovo government, led by some former commanders of ethnic Albanian guerrillas who rose up against Belgrade's repressive in the late 1990s, also condemned the attack.</p>
<p>"The killing of<span>&nbsp;Oliver&nbsp;</span><span>Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>challenges the law and any attempt to establish law and order throughout the entire territory of Kosovo," it said in a statement.</p>
<p>Marko Djuric, director of Serbia's government office for Kosovo, said<span>&nbsp;Ivanovic</span>'s killing was aimed against the Serbian "people that must and will be punished."</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a5e230bf421495c438b4c94-1328/oliver ivanovic.jpg" alt="Oliver Ivanovic" data-mce-source="Wikipedia/Medija centar Beograd" data-mce-caption="Oliver Ivanovic" data-link="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOliver_Ivanovic_2011-mc.rs.jpg" /></p>
<h2>"Bridge-watchers"</h2>
<p>Known as a relative moderate among mainly ultra-nationalist Kosovo Serb politicians,<span>&nbsp;Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>became one of the chief interlocutors for NATO, U.N. and EU officials based in Kosovo to help steer it on a firm path to democracy and the rule of law.</p>
<p>In 2016, he was convicted of war crimes linked to the killings of four ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war and was jailed for nine years. But after a retrial was ordered last year, he was released and allowed to defend himself while free.</p>
<p>Serbian officials dismissed the accusations against<span>&nbsp;Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>and said the process against him was staged.</p>
<p><span>Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>came to prominence shortly after the war as one of the community leaders of Mitrovica Serbs known as the "bridge-watchers" who sought to prevent "infiltration" by Albanians over the Ibar River bridge into the northern half of the town.</p>
<p>The bridge-watchers were often involved in ethnic violence in the early post-war period, after NATO air strikes drove out Belgrade forces accused of killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians in a counter-insurgency campaign.</p>
<p>The group later disbanded but many members branched out into organized crime.<span>&nbsp;Ivanovic&nbsp;</span>entered politics and became known for a pragmatist stance advocating dialogue and compromise with Kosovo Albanians, though still rejecting Kosovo sovereignty.</p>
<p>Some 40,000-50,000 ethnic Serbs live in northern Kosovo, rejecting integration with the mainly ethnic Albanian state.</p>
<p>Relations between Serbia and Kosovo have been tense since 2008, but in 2013 both parties agreed to participate in EU-sponsored negotiations on normalizing relations, a condition for both to progress on their way toward membership in the bloc.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; writing by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Mark Heinrich)</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/james-mattis-defense-secretary-career-biography-2018-1" >The incredible career of Jim Mattis, the legendary Marine general turned defense secretary</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oliver-ivanovic-kosovo-serb-politician-shot-dead-terrorism-2018-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/future-olympics-no-country-wants-to-host-games-2018-2">No one wants to host the Olympics anymore — will they go away?</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/every-european-city-where-you-can-live-on-less-than-600-a-month-2017-1126 European cities where you can live on less than £600 a monthhttp://www.businessinsider.com/every-european-city-where-you-can-live-on-less-than-600-a-month-2017-11
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 07:08:00 -0500Bobbie Edsor
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a1ea3f3ec1ade22ce5f8b18-1068/banja luka flickr nick savchenko.jpg" alt="banja luka flickr nick savchenko" data-mce-source="Flickr/Nick Savchenko" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nsavch/29547968030/" /></p><p>Making the big leap and <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-best-places-to-visit-in-2018-according-to-travel-experts-2017-11">moving abroad is both exciting and mind-expanding.</a></p>
<p>There are plenty of factors you must take into consideration, though, including job opportunities, the country's culture, and its economy. The cost of basic expenses also varies massively from one region to another.</p>
<p>Depending on where you're moving, small differences, such as the cost of rent or even a coffee, can be a huge culture shock compared to what you're used to paying &mdash; and not always in a good way.</p>
<p>Business Insider has compiled a list of every European city where you can live on less than &pound;600 a month &mdash; that's less than a third of the monthly cost of living in London (&pound;1,838), and significantly less than living in Manchester (&pound;1,128),&nbsp;Glasgow (&pound;1,024), and Liverpool (&pound;1,010).</p>
<p>The data was compiled from <a href="https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings.jsp">Numbeo's Cost of Living Index</a>, which looks at the everyday costs in major cities around the globe and is updated every month. Numbeo includes Russia in its definition of Europe.</p>
<p>The index takes into account&nbsp;a multitude of factors including the cost of groceries, eating and drinking out, travel, rent, utilities, and even spread-out and occasional&nbsp;splurges such as clothing and cinema trips &mdash; and one country emerged at the clear winner.</p>
<p>While the data represents a well-rounded approximation of how much one person spends in each city over the space of a month,&nbsp;we've highlighted some specific examples &mdash; including the cost of a cup of coffee, a beer, rent, and travel &mdash; to give a better idea of how costs fluctuate between each location.</p>
<p>Scroll on to discover every European city where you can live comfortably on less than&nbsp;&pound;600 a month, ranked by the average cost of living from most expensive to cheapest.</p><h3>26. Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — £591.06</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a1ea3eeec1ade22ce5f8afe-400-300/26-sarajevo-bosnia-and-herzegovina--59106.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Cappuccino:&nbsp;</strong>2.32 Convertible mark (&pound;1.06)</p>
<p><strong>Three-course meal for two:&nbsp;</strong>40&nbsp;<span>Convertible mark</span> (&pound;18)</p>
<p><strong>Domestic beer (0.5 litre bottle):</strong> 1.23&nbsp;<span>Convertible mark</span> (&pound;0.56)</p>
<p><strong>Monthly travel pass:&nbsp;</strong>53&nbsp;<span>Convertible mark</span> (&pound;25)</p>
<p><strong>One bedroom apartment outside of city-centre, monthly rent: </strong>317.39&nbsp;<span>Convertible mark</span> (&pound;145)</p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>25. Kazan, Russia — £586.04</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a1ea3efec1ade22ce5f8aff-400-300/25-kazan-russia--58604.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Cappuccino:</strong> 139 Russian ruble<span>&nbsp;(&pound;1.79)</span></p>
<p><strong>Three-course meal for two:</strong> 1,500&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;19.30)</span></p>
<p><strong>Domestic beer (0.5 litre draught):</strong> 60&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;0.77)</span></p>
<p><strong>Monthly travel pass:</strong> 900&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;11.60)</span></p>
<p><strong>One bedroom apartment outside of city-centre, monthly rent:</strong> 14,750&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;190)</span></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>24. Novosibirsk, Russia — £583.31</h3>
<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a1ea3efec1ade22ce5f8b00-400-300/24-novosibirsk-russia--58331.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Cappuccino:</strong> 116&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;1.49)</span></p>
<p><strong>Three-course meal for two:</strong> 1,500&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;19.30)</span></p>
<p><strong>Domestic beer (0.5 litre bottle):</strong> 55.83&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;0.72)</span></p>
<p><strong>Monthly travel pass:</strong> 800&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;10.30)</span></p>
<p><strong>One bedroom apartment outside of city-centre, monthly rent:</strong> 14,358&nbsp;<span>Russian ruble</span><span>&nbsp;(&pound;185)</span></p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/every-european-city-where-you-can-live-on-less-than-600-a-month-2017-11#/#23-varna-bulgaria-57875-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/ratko-mladic-srebrenica-massacre-bosnia-war-2017-11Here's the awful story of the worst European massacre since World War IIhttp://www.businessinsider.com/ratko-mladic-srebrenica-massacre-bosnia-war-2017-11
Wed, 22 Nov 2017 10:46:03 -0500Alex Lockie and Armin Rosen
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/559fcfedecad04e51ff7425d-1200-706/rtx1juiv.jpg" alt="RTX1JUIV" border="0"></p><p></p>
<p><strong><em>On Wednesday, former Serbian general Ratko Mladić, who commanded the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ratko-maldic-thrown-out-of-court-for-shouting-before-conviction-2017-11">was convicted of war crimes</a> and sent to prison for life. Mladić was also deemed to be responsible for the massacre at Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Here's the story of Srebrenica, initially written by Business Insider on the massacre's 20th anniversary in 2015:</em></strong></p>
<hr>
<p><br>On July 11, 1995, over three years into the civil war in Bosnia, Bosnian Serb militants overran a UN-established safe zone in the eastern town of Srebrenica, separated about 8,000 Muslim men and boys from the women who had sought shelter in the area, led them into fields and warehouses in surrounding villages, and massacred them over the course of three days. It was the worst single atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II and is generally considered to be an act of genocide.</p>
<p><img class="float_left" style="color: #000000;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559ff2c5eab8ea8b05f7425b-562-741/screen%20shot%202015-07-10%20at%2012.28.22%20pm.png" alt="Bosnia map" border="0"></p>
<p>With the support of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's government in Belgrade, the Bosnian Serbs — under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic, who is now facing a range of war-crimes charges — were attempting to liquidate Bosnia's Muslim population as part of an attempt to carve a "greater Serbia" out of the ruins of Yugoslavia, the polyglot communist state <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/breakup-yugoslavia">whose breakup into seven different countries</a> began in the early 1990s. Bosnia has sizable Muslim, Croat, and Serbian populations, and it was the one republic of Yugoslavia without a clear ethnic majority (see map at left).</p>
<p>Milosevic, Karadzic, and Bosnian Serb militants under the leadership of Ratko Mladic used ethnic cleansing to cleave off as much of Bosnia as possible for the Serbian-dominated remains of Yugoslavia.</p>
<p>The Srebrenica massacre was the inevitable result: an act of mass murder that conveyed the brutal message that Muslims weren't safe anywhere inside of the country and that the UN and the international community were unable or unwilling to protect them.</p>
<p>The UN had established a demilitarized zone in Srebrenica in 1993, creating an area where Muslims who had been forced out of their homes elsewhere in Bosnia could find safety from the Bosnian Serb onslaught.</p>
<p>Bosnian Muslim militants allied with the government in Sarajevo had carved out an enclave in eastern Bosnia surrounding the Srebrenica safe zone. The Serbs wanted to take this pocket of resistance, and their military leaders resented the UN providing shelter for displaced Muslims. A declassified CIA memo from the time described the handful of UN eastern safe zones as "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/how-britain-and-us-abandoned-srebrenica-massacre-1995">fish bones in the throat of the Serbs</a>."</p>
<p>The massacre had been <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18101028">planned in advance</a>. The week of the atrocity, Serbian forces had taken surrounding villages, forcing some 20,000 refugees inside the UN safe area. Serbian forces had also kidnapped 30 Dutch peacekeepers, a blunt instrument of blackmail and leverage over the Dutch peacekeeping force guarding the enclave. And they had started shelling Srebrenica on July 6, making it abundantly clear that they would not respect the UN's humanitarian safe area.</p>
<p>In the hours leading up to the killing, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/29/world/europe/ratko-mladic-fast-facts/">Mladic</a>, who is also facing war-crimes charges, can be seen on video laughing and handing out candy to the troops in what veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/europe/amanpour-srebrenica/">describes as</a> "one of the most chilling pieces of video I've ever seen in my life."</p>
<div><div>
<iframe width="840" height="473" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jCEM-OirLBE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></div>
<p> </p>
<p>The Serb forces were greatly aided by the international community's indifference. Though the UN wanted a peacekeeping deployment of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnALEecbZ-k">about 6,000</a> in the area, by the time of the massacre only <a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bosnia1095web.pdf">about 600</a> lightly armed Dutch troops were guarding the town. When Mladic and the Bosnian Serb army entered Srebrenica, the peacekeepers put up little resistance and even called off airstrikes when the Serbs threatened to kill their Dutch hostages. Peacekeepers were also later <a href="https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/619591996815097856">accused of destroying video evidence</a> of their inaction.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55a02d61ecad04e052f74260-1200-858/rtrfoib.jpg" alt="Srebrenica" border="0"></p>
<p>Far from protecting vulnerable civilians, the "safe zone" had just concentrated them in a single location that the UN apparently had little intention of actually defending. But they weren't the only party at fault: <a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bosnia1095web.pdf">As a Human Rights Watch report from late 1995 recounts</a>, the NATO states remained complacent and indecisive even as the enclave's fall was imminent, despite the clearly genocidal intentions of the Serbian forces.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55a02e1f6bb3f78039f7425b-1200-800/rtxfv9b.jpg" alt="Srebrenica" border="0">Serb forces started deporting all women and children from the enclave as soon as Srebrenica fell on July 11 and held nearly all of the area's Muslim males for "interrogation." More than 8,000 of them would be killed in the following days.</p>
<p><img style="line-height: 1.5em;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/559fd8b8eab8eaf30ef7425b-1200-800/screen%20shot%202015-07-10%20at%2010.36.16%20am.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015 07 10 at 10.36.16 AM" border="0">The massacre galvanized international opinion and led to a US and NATO intervention in Bosnia's civil war. Shortly after the killings, NATO bombs <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/timeline-1995-srebrenica-massacre-bosnia-32350123">started dropping bombs on Serbian positions</a>. In November 1995, Milosevic and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović signed the US-brokered Dayton Accords, which left Bosnia as a single country while creating an autonomous Serb "republic" behind the Bosnian Serb frontline, in areas that had been ethnically cleansed of their Muslim population (see above map).</p>
<p>The accords ended the conflict. But they led to an internal partitioning of Bosnia while arguably awarding Serb forces for their atrocities.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55a034bcecad041d7bf7425e-1200-750/rtxfvjb.jpg" alt="srebrenica" border="0">Srebrenica played an outsize role in bringing about this indecisive end to the conflict. And the atrocity was on such a massive scale that victims are still being disinterred from mass graves in the area and identified.</p>
<p>Each year on the anniversary of the killings, the Bosnian government releases bodies that were recently discovered, in whole or in part, in the hills and fields that surround the town. The friends and relatives of the victims attend a mass funeral each year.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/559fcf4feab8ea065ff7425e-1200-800/rtx1jrft.jpg" alt="RTX1JRFT" border="0">Even 20 years later workers are still sifting through remains and trying to identify bodies, an attempt to restore some humanity to the more than 8,000 people killed at Srebrenica. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/world/europe/srebrenica-genocide-massacre.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a>, 6,930 bodies have been identified from 17,000 body parts found in dozens of mass graves. An additional 136 bodies will be released for burial on this year's anniversary.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/559fd937ecad04bc4df7425b-1200-924/srebrenicamassacre-massgravesite-potocari2007.jpg" alt="Srebrenica_Massacre_ _Mass_Gravesite_ _Potocari_2007" border="0">As Kathryne Bomberger, the director general of the <a href="http://www.ic-mp.org/news/why-we-are-excavating-the-dead-of-srebrenica/">International Commission for Missing Persons</a>, wrote in an editorial in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/09/srebrenica-20-years-on">The Guardian</a>: "Those who killed in Srebrenica in July 1995 believed they could get away with murder. They thought they could erase the identity of their victims permanently. They were wrong."</p>
<p>On May 26, 2011, Gen. Ratko Mladic <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/26/serbia.mladic/">was arrested and detained</a> in Serbia as a suspect in the massacre at Srebrenica. This past March, another <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/europe/srebrenica-massacre.html">eight soldiers were arrested</a> on suspicion of having participated in the killings.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559fda43ecad04bf4df7425f-1200-800/rtr2n89r.jpg" alt="RTR2N89R" border="0">Srebrenica is still a source of controversy. On Thursday, Russia <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/russia-vetoes-genocide-resolution-srebrenica-150708150057291.html">vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution</a> that would classify the Srebrenica massacre as a genocide. The Russian delegate cited war crimes on both sides of the war in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that characterizing the killing as a genocide was "<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/russia-vetoes-genocide-resolution-srebrenica-150708150057291.html">anti-Serb</a>." But the International Court of Justice and many international observers have long since labeled the killings as genocidal.</p>
<p>The massacre is still an open wound for the UN and arguably for the entire international system it represents. In July 2014, a Dutch court <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/europe/court-finds-netherlands-responsible-for-srebrenica-deaths.html">found peacekeepers responsible</a> for the deaths of 300 people at Srebrenica, resolving one of several lawsuits connected to the massacre. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/how-britain-and-us-abandoned-srebrenica-massacre-1995">Recent research based on declassified CIA cables</a> alleges that Britain and US knew for six weeks that Srebrenica was close to falling to Serbian forces but decided not to intervene out of concern that the crisis would get in the way of ongoing peace negotiations.</p>
<p><img style="line-height: 1.5em;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559fde08ecad042c60f7425d-1200-924/srebrenicamassacre-massacrevictim2-potocari2007.jpg" alt="Srebrenica_Massacre_ _Massacre_Victim_2_ _Potocari_2007" border="0"></p>
<p>The slow Western response, and the failure of the UN to prevent one of the worst single atrocities anywhere since World War II despite the presence of its peacekeepers, raise serious questions about how outside actors should intervention in regional conflicts. Srebrenica exposed the US, NATO, and the UN's fatal disorganization and indecision and raised still troubling questions about what the world's responsibilities should be when thousands of lives are in imminent danger.</p>
<p>What does it take for world powers to step in and stop human-rights abusers before they can commit Srebrenica-like atrocities? When should international actors step in? If they do decide to intervene, which moral and political responsibilities do they assume? Is a country ever obligated to rescue people when it doesn't have a clear strategic or political interest in doing so, and should the moral imperative of protecting innocents ever override all other concerns?</p>
<p>Even 20 years after Srebrenica, there's still no clear answer.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/images-show-how-the-rohingya-are-killed-and-forced-to-flee-myanmar-2017-11" >Brutal images show the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar that the US just called 'ethnic cleansing'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ratko-mladic-srebrenica-massacre-bosnia-war-2017-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/srebrenica-bosnia-genocide-2017-722 years ago 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed at Srebrenica in Europe's worst atrocity since WWIIhttp://www.businessinsider.com/srebrenica-bosnia-genocide-2017-7
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 16:51:49 -0400Business Insider
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/559fcfedecad04e51ff7425d-1200-706/rtx1juiv.jpg" alt="RTX1JUIV" border="0"></p><p>On July 11, 1995, over three years into the civil war in Bosnia, Bosnian Serb militants overran a UN-established safe zone in the eastern town of Srebrenica, separated about 8,000 Muslim men and boys from the women who had sought shelter in the area, led them into fields and warehouses in surrounding villages, and massacred them over the course of three days. It was the worst single atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II and is generally considered to be an act of genocide.</p>
<p><img class="float_left" style="color: #000000;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559ff2c5eab8ea8b05f7425b-562-741/screen%20shot%202015-07-10%20at%2012.28.22%20pm.png" alt="Bosnia map" border="0"></p>
<p>With the support of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's government in Belgrade, the Bosnian Serbs — under the leadership of Radovan Karadzic, who is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/24/radovan-karadzic-criminally-responsible-for-genocide-at-srebenica" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">now serving 40 years for war crimes</a> — were attempting to liquidate Bosnia's Muslim population as part of an attempt to carve a "greater Serbia" out of the ruins of Yugoslavia, the polyglot communist state <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/breakup-yugoslavia">whose breakup into seven different countries</a> began in the early 1990s. Bosnia has sizable Muslim, Croat, and Serbian populations, and it was the one republic of Yugoslavia without a clear ethnic majority (see map at left).</p>
<p>Milosevic, Karadzic, and Bosnian Serb militants under the leadership of Ratko Mladic used ethnic cleansing to cleave off as much of Bosnia as possible for the Serbian-dominated remains of Yugoslavia.</p>
<p>The Srebrenica massacre was the inevitable result: an act of mass murder that conveyed the brutal message that Muslims weren't safe anywhere inside of the country and that the UN and the international community were unable or unwilling to protect them.</p>
<p>The UN had established a demilitarized zone in Srebrenica in 1993, creating an area where Muslims who had been forced out of their homes elsewhere in Bosnia could find safety from the Bosnian Serb onslaught.</p>
<p>Bosnian Muslim militants allied with the government in Sarajevo had carved out an enclave in eastern Bosnia surrounding the Srebrenica safe zone. The Serbs wanted to take this pocket of resistance, and their military leaders resented the UN providing shelter for displaced Muslims. A declassified CIA memo from the time described the handful of UN eastern safe zones as "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/how-britain-and-us-abandoned-srebrenica-massacre-1995">fish bones in the throat of the Serbs</a>."</p>
<p>The massacre had been <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18101028">planned in advance</a>. The week of the atrocity, Serbian forces had taken surrounding villages, forcing some 20,000 refugees inside the UN safe area. Serbian forces had also kidnapped 30 Dutch peacekeepers, a blunt instrument of blackmail and leverage over the Dutch peacekeeping force guarding the enclave. And they had started shelling Srebrenica on July 6, making it abundantly clear that they would not respect the UN's humanitarian safe area.</p>
<p>In the hours leading up to the killing, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/29/world/europe/ratko-mladic-fast-facts/">Mladic</a>, who is facing war-crimes charges, can be seen on video laughing and handing out candy to the troops in what veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/europe/amanpour-srebrenica/">describes as</a> "one of the most chilling pieces of video I've ever seen in my life."</p>
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<p>The Serb forces were greatly aided by the international community's indifference. Though the UN wanted a peacekeeping deployment of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnALEecbZ-k">about 6,000</a> in the area, by the time of the massacre only <a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bosnia1095web.pdf">about 600</a> lightly armed Dutch troops were guarding the town. When Mladic and the Bosnian Serb army entered Srebrenica, the peacekeepers put up little resistance and even called off airstrikes when the Serbs threatened to kill their Dutch hostages. Peacekeepers were also later <a href="https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/619591996815097856">accused of destroying video evidence</a> of their inaction.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/55a02d61ecad04e052f74260-1200-858/rtrfoib.jpg" alt="Srebrenica" border="0"></p>
<p>Far from protecting vulnerable civilians, the "safe zone" had just concentrated them in a single location that the UN apparently had little intention of actually defending. But they weren't the only party at fault: <a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bosnia1095web.pdf">As a Human Rights Watch report from late 1995 recounts</a>, the NATO states remained complacent and indecisive even as the enclave's fall was imminent, despite the clearly genocidal intentions of the Serbian forces.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/55a02e1f6bb3f78039f7425b-1200-800/rtxfv9b.jpg" alt="Srebrenica" border="0">Serb forces started deporting all women and children from the enclave as soon as Srebrenica fell on July 11 and held nearly all of the area's Muslim males for "interrogation." More than 8,000 of them would be killed in the following days.</p>
<p><img style="line-height: 1.5em;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/559fd8b8eab8eaf30ef7425b-1200-800/screen%20shot%202015-07-10%20at%2010.36.16%20am.png" alt="Screen Shot 2015 07 10 at 10.36.16 AM" border="0">The massacre galvanized international opinion and led to a US and NATO intervention in Bosnia's civil war. Shortly after the killings, NATO bombs <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/timeline-1995-srebrenica-massacre-bosnia-32350123">started dropping bombs on Serbian positions</a>. In November 1995, Milosevic and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović signed the US-brokered Dayton Accords, which left Bosnia as a single country while creating an autonomous Serb "republic" behind the Bosnian Serb frontline, in areas that had been ethnically cleansed of their Muslim population (see above map).</p>
<p>The accords ended the conflict. But they led to an internal partitioning of Bosnia while arguably awarding Serb forces for their atrocities.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55a034bcecad041d7bf7425e-1200-750/rtxfvjb.jpg" alt="srebrenica" border="0">Srebrenica played an outsize role in bringing about this indecisive end to the conflict. And the atrocity was on such a massive scale that victims are still being disinterred from mass graves in the area and identified.</p>
<p>Each year on the anniversary of the killings, the Bosnian government releases bodies that were recently discovered, in whole or in part, in the hills and fields that surround the town. The friends and relatives of the victims attend a mass funeral each year.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/559fcf4feab8ea065ff7425e-1200-800/rtx1jrft.jpg" alt="RTX1JRFT" border="0">Even 22 years later workers are still sifting through remains and trying to identify bodies, an attempt to restore some humanity to the more than 8,000 people killed at Srebrenica. According to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/world/europe/srebrenica-genocide-massacre.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a>, 6,930 bodies have been identified from 17,000 body parts found in dozens of mass graves. </p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/559fd937ecad04bc4df7425b-1200-924/srebrenicamassacre-massgravesite-potocari2007.jpg" alt="Srebrenica_Massacre_ _Mass_Gravesite_ _Potocari_2007" border="0">As Kathryne Bomberger, the director general of the <a href="http://www.ic-mp.org/news/why-we-are-excavating-the-dead-of-srebrenica/">International Commission for Missing Persons</a>, wrote in an editorial in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/09/srebrenica-20-years-on">The Guardian</a>: "Those who killed in Srebrenica in July 1995 believed they could get away with murder. They thought they could erase the identity of their victims permanently. They were wrong."</p>
<p>On May 26, 2011, Gen. Ratko Mladic <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/26/serbia.mladic/">was arrested and detained</a> in Serbia as a suspect in the massacre at Srebrenica. This past March, another <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/world/europe/srebrenica-massacre.html">eight soldiers were arrested</a> on suspicion of having participated in the killings.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559fda43ecad04bf4df7425f-1200-800/rtr2n89r.jpg" alt="RTR2N89R" border="0">Srebrenica is still a source of controversy. In 2015, Russia <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/russia-vetoes-genocide-resolution-srebrenica-150708150057291.html">vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution</a> that would classify the Srebrenica massacre as a genocide. The Russian delegate cited war crimes on both sides of the war in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that characterizing the killing as a genocide was "<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/russia-vetoes-genocide-resolution-srebrenica-150708150057291.html">anti-Serb</a>." But the International Court of Justice and many international observers have long since labeled the killings as genocidal.</p>
<p>The massacre is still an open wound for the UN and arguably for the entire international system it represents. In July 2014, a Dutch court <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/world/europe/court-finds-netherlands-responsible-for-srebrenica-deaths.html">found peacekeepers responsible</a> for the deaths of 300 people at Srebrenica, resolving one of several lawsuits connected to the massacre. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/04/how-britain-and-us-abandoned-srebrenica-massacre-1995">Recent research based on declassified CIA cables</a> alleges that Britain and US knew for six weeks that Srebrenica was close to falling to Serbian forces but decided not to intervene out of concern that the crisis would get in the way of ongoing peace negotiations.</p>
<p><img style="line-height: 1.5em;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/559fde08ecad042c60f7425d-1200-924/srebrenicamassacre-massacrevictim2-potocari2007.jpg" alt="Srebrenica_Massacre_ _Massacre_Victim_2_ _Potocari_2007" border="0"></p>
<p>The slow Western response, and the failure of the UN to prevent one of the worst single atrocities anywhere since World War II despite the presence of its peacekeepers, raise serious questions about how outside actors should intervention in regional conflicts. Srebrenica exposed the US, NATO, and the UN's fatal disorganization and indecision and raised still troubling questions about what the world's responsibilities should be when thousands of lives are in imminent danger.</p>
<p>What does it take for world powers to step in and stop human-rights abusers before they can commit Srebrenica-like atrocities? When should international actors step in? If they do decide to intervene, which moral and political responsibilities do they assume? Is a country ever obligated to rescue people when it doesn't have a clear strategic or political interest in doing so, and should the moral imperative of protecting innocents ever override all other concerns?</p>
<p>Even 22 years after Srebrenica, there's still no clear answer.</p>
<p><em>Armin Rosen composed an earlier version of this story.</em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/srebrenica-bosnia-genocide-2017-7#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-has-named-its-first-openly-gay-and-female-prime-minister-2017-6Serbia has named its first openly gay and female prime ministerhttp://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-has-named-its-first-openly-gay-and-female-prime-minister-2017-6
Fri, 16 Jun 2017 04:44:12 -0400Rachel Roberts
<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Serbia"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/59439a8689d0e20257677a10-1310/pa-31707435.jpg" alt="Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has picked Ana Brnabic as the country's next prime minister" data-mce-source="Darko Vojinovic / AP / Press Association Images" data-mce-caption="Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has picked Ana Brnabic as the country's next prime minister" />Serbia</a>'s President&nbsp;has nominated the minister Ana Brnabic as Prime Minister, the first woman and first openly-gay politician to occupy the role in the highly conservative Balkan country.</p>
<p>Ms Brnabic, who is an independent, became Serbia's first openly gay minister last year, making headlines around the world because of the country's poor record on <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/lgbt-rights">LGBT rights</a>.</p>
<p>President Aleksandar Vucic announced Ana Brnabic is his official nomination as Prime Minister-designate. Her government needs formal approval by Serbia's parliament next week.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Vucic calls it "a difficult decision reached in the interest of Serbia and its citizens." Ms Brnabic is currently government minister of public administration and local government.</p>
<p>Her appointment into government last year was hailed by human rights groups as historic for the country whose gay community continues to face discrimination, harassment and violence.</p>
<p>The 41-year-old new Prime Minister is a former "businesswoman of the year" in her country and was educated partly in the UK and in the US. She speaks both English and Russian.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/AmnestyInternational">Amnesty International</a> has identified Serbia as one of a number of countries where there is a marked lack of will to tackle homophobia and transphobia.</p>
<p>Households headed by same-sex couples in the country are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.</p>
<p>Mr Vucic, a former extremist-turned-reformist, has promised to improve&nbsp;gay rights as part of efforts to move closer to European Union membership.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-has-named-its-first-openly-gay-and-female-prime-minister-2017-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-might-happen-north-korea-launched-nuclear-weapon-kim-jon-un-donald-trump-twitter-war-2018-1">Here's what might happen if North Korea launched a nuclear weapon</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/14-people-2-russians-charged-with-attempted-coup-in-montenegro-2017-414 people, including 2 Russians, charged with attempted coup in Montenegrohttp://www.businessinsider.com/14-people-2-russians-charged-with-attempted-coup-in-montenegro-2017-4
Thu, 13 Apr 2017 19:17:43 -0400Daniel Brown
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/573ed7f35124c99b7d52c9c3-800" alt="Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Montenegro's PM Djukanovic attends a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels"></p><p></p>
<p>Montenegro has charged 14 people — including two Russians and two Montenegrin opposition leaders — over&nbsp;their alleged involvement in an attempted coup in October 2016, the Associated Press <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/14-charged-with-montenegro-coup-including-2-russians/2017/04/13/7cc42e78-205f-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html" target="_blank">reported</a> Thursday.</p>
<p>The high court in the capital, Podgorica, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/14-charged-with-montenegro-coup-including-2-russians/2017/04/13/7cc42e78-205f-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html?utm_term=.66868c3d22f1" target="_blank">said</a> the 14 people were charged with "creating a criminal organization."</p>
<p>The two Russians were also charged with "terrorism."</p>
<p>Montenegrin authorities said the 14 accused attempted to take over parliament, assassinate then-Prime Minister <span>Milo Djukanovic, and install pro-Russian leaders to keep the country from joining NATO.</span></p>
<p><span><span>Montenegro</span><span> received</span><span> </span><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/12/montenegro-has-the-u-s-greenlight-to-join-nato-now-what/"><span>US approval to join </span></a><span><a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/12/montenegro-has-the-u-s-greenlight-to-join-nato-now-what/">NATO</a> on Wednesday, but it still needs Spain to jump on board.</span></span></p>
<p><span>The two Russian operatives, <span>Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, were said to have orchestrated the attempted coup from Serbia. The Serbian government <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/14-charged-with-montenegro-coup-including-2-russians/2017/04/13/7cc42e78-205f-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html?utm_term=.66868c3d22f1" target="_blank">acknowledged</a> that they were in Serbia and used encrypted phones but allowed them to return to Russia.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>They are still at large, and Interpol is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/estonia-intelligence-report-intensifying-russia-spy-activity-in-europe-2017-4" target="_blank">currently searching</a> for them.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/58edf4c95124c9810ab762ec-800" alt="Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (not pictured) in Moscow's Kremlin, Russia April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Pavel Golovkin/Pool" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (not pictured) in Moscow's Kremlin"></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>One of the indicted Montenegrin opposition leaders, <span>Andrija Mandic, <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-charges-14-including-russians-with-coup-attempt/28428399.html" target="_blank">said</a> on Thursday that the <span>charges were "a staged political process against the opposition."</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>Despite their opposition to Montenegro joining NATO, Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attempted coup.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/">two Russians allegedly spent months</a> recruiting and equipping a small force of Serbian nationalists who were to disguise themselves as local police and kill Djukanovic. The plot was uncovered only hours before it was to be set in motion.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5623b0755afbd3554c8b4567-800" alt="Riot policemen block a main street after protests in Podgorica, Montenegro, October 17, 2015. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Riot policemen block a main street after protests in Podgorica, Montenegro"></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span>Montenegro's special prosecutor said</span><span> that the plotters would have mingled with Democratic Front protesters outside the parliament building while the election results were announced. </span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span>Then, at the right time, they</span></span></span></span></span> would have forced their way inside and, during the confusion, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/" target="_blank">opened fire</a> on the crowd "so that citizens would think that the official police are shooting at them."</p>
<p>“Had it been executed, such a scenario would have had an unforeseeable consequence," <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/" target="_blank">he told</a> The Telegraph.</p>
<p>The prosecutor <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/" target="_blank">said</a> that he had "obtained evidence that the plan was not only to deprive of liberty, but also to deprive of life the then prime minister."</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/562fd7a6bd86ef16008c5367-1600/img5438montenegrokotor7586309972.jpg" alt="kotor montenegro" data-mce-source="Wikimedia" data-mce-caption="Kotor, Montenegro" data-link="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_5438Montenegro_Kotor_(7586309972).jpg"></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>For years, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/">Moscow has been intent</a> on Montenegro staying neutral and has repeatedly sought access to its Adriatic ports.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>Moscow is <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/18/russias-deadly-plot-overthrow-montenegros-government-assassinating/">also suspected</a> of pouring millions of euros into a pro-Russian election campaign run by Montenegro's opposition party, the Democratic Front, months before the coup.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>Russia's alleged role in the attempted Montenegro coup is but one example of Moscow's suspected&nbsp;intention to spy on and influence the region, according to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/estonia-intelligence-report-intensifying-russia-spy-activity-in-europe-2017-4">numerous reports from Eastern Europe</a>.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span>Montenegro was invited to join NATO in December 2015. After the US Senate backed its inclusion, President Donald Trump <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/12/montenegro-has-the-u-s-greenlight-to-join-nato-now-what/" target="_blank">signed</a> the ratification early this week.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span>"Involving Montenegro into NATO is profoundly erroneous, disagrees with fundamental interests of people in that country, and damages stability in the Balkans and in Europe as a whole," the Russian Foreign Ministry <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/14-charged-with-montenegro-coup-including-2-russians/2017/04/13/7cc42e78-205f-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html" target="_blank">said</a> on Thursday.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/estonia-intelligence-report-intensifying-russia-spy-activity-in-europe-2017-4" >A new report says Russia is intensifying its spy game in Eastern Europe</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/14-people-2-russians-charged-with-attempted-coup-in-montenegro-2017-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-jailed-man-putins-biggest-challenger-alexei-navalny-progress-2017-3">Here's what to know about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny —Putin’s biggest critic</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-balkan-war-criminals-welcomed-back-to-public-life-2017-2Former Balkan leaders convicted for crimes against humanity get welcomed back to public lifehttp://www.businessinsider.com/afp-balkan-war-criminals-welcomed-back-to-public-life-2017-2
Fri, 24 Feb 2017 05:25:00 -0500Katarina Subasic
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/58b007b354905755008b6836-745/undefined" alt="afp balkan war criminals welcomed back to public life" data-mce-source="AFP" data-mce-caption="People welcome Bosnian Serb politician Momcilo Krajisnik to his hometown Pale after he served two-thirds of a 20-year sentence for war crimes." /></p><p>Belgrade (AFP) - Jailed for committing atrocities in the conflict-riven 1990s, Balkan war criminals are being welcomed back to the limelight, resuming political posts, advising top officials and preaching in church.</p>
<p>Two decades after the bloodshed that tore apart communist Yugoslavia, the men convicted for their destructive roles are increasingly present in public life, especially in Serbia, where many of them remain popular.</p>
<p>Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in January received Momcilo Krajisnik, a wartime Bosnian Serb leader who was released after serving two thirds of a 20-year jail sentence handed down by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.</p>
<p>Krajisnik, convicted of crimes against humanity including the deportation and persecution of non-Serbs, discussed with the president "the protection of Serb people's rights in the region," according to a statement from Nikolic's office.</p>
<p>The meeting came nearly four years after several thousand well-wishers lined the streets of Krajisnik's Bosnian hometown Pale to welcome him back from prison. Like other regional war criminals upon release, he was flown by government helicopter.</p>
<h2>'A message of impunity'&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Last month, Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) invited former Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin to speak at an event. He earlier spent more than six years in jail over the 1991 massacre of some 260 people in the Croatian town of Vukovar.</p>
<p>Asked if his participation in last month's event was suitable, Vladimir Gak, a senior SNS official and mayor of the northern town of Indjija, repeatedly replied that Sljivancanin "is a free citizen of Serbia".</p>
<p>Protesters from the non-governmental Youth Initiative for Human Rights interrupted the event with a banner that read: "War criminals must shut up so we can talk about victims".&nbsp;</p>
<p>The activists said they were beaten over the protest, while top SNS officials called them "fascists" and "hooligans" and demanded that they be punished by the authorities.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For Izabela Kisic, executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, the ruling party "sends a message of impunity and ignores the families of victims" by bringing convicted war criminals back to public life.</p>
<p>The 1990s conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo claimed more than 130,000 lives, while more than 10,000 have never been accounted for. Millions lost their homes.</p>
<p>Kisic believes Serbia has never gone through "a process of Denazification like Germany had" after World War II.</p>
<p>"Such participation of war criminals in public life in Germany would have been unimaginable," she said.</p>
<h2>Courting voters</h2>
<p>In another example, former deputy premier Nikola Sainovic was appointed to a top body of Serbia's Socialist Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, after serving two thirds of an 18-year sentence for crimes against ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo war.</p>
<p>"His supporters in eastern Serbia do not see him as a war criminal, they like him a lot," a top party official told AFP, adding that Sainovic "is experienced and very useful to the party".</p>
<p>Both President Nikolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who together formed the populist SNS party, have ultranationalist pasts and were ministers under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.</p>
<p>Both men were also once close allies of far-right Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, who was tried for war crimes by the ICTY but eventually acquitted.</p>
<p>After returning to Serbia in late 2015 after 12 years in detention, Seselj led his party back into parliament last year as the strongest opposition force, and he now hopes for success in a presidential election due in April.</p>
<p>Political analyst Boban Stojanovic believes the publicity given to convicted war criminals is a ploy by the ruling party to "gain some political points" ahead of the vote.</p>
<p>"The SNS has won over a huge number of Seselj's Radical Party voters. Among them there are certainly people who still consider war criminals as heroes," Stojanovic said.</p>
<p>On the streets of the capital Belgrade, T-shirts for sale bear the face of Ratko Mladic, the notorious Bosnian Serb military chief during the war.</p>
<p>Mladic awaits his verdict from the UN court over his role in Bosnia's war, notably the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.</p>
<h2>From prison to mayor</h2>
<p>The rehabilitation of war criminals after their release is not limited to Serbia.</p>
<p>Fikret Abdic was recently elected mayor of the western Bosnian town of Velika Kladusa, having served time for setting up prison camps during the war that housed 5,000 prisoners, more than 300 of whom were killed.</p>
<p>In Croatia, local media have reported that Dario Kordic, a Bosnian Croat who served more than 16 years in prison for his role in a 1993 massacre of 116 civilians, now often preaches in Catholic churches.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-balkan-war-criminals-welcomed-back-to-public-life-2017-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/suki-kim-north-korea-sent-hundreds-cheerleaders-olympics-2018-2">Why North Korea sent hundreds of cheerleaders to the Olympics</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-defense-minister-says-serbia-will-get-russian-fighter-jets-2017-2Serbia to buy Russian MiG-29S fighter jets for air forcehttp://www.businessinsider.com/ap-defense-minister-says-serbia-will-get-russian-fighter-jets-2017-2
Sun, 12 Feb 2017 14:50:00 -0500
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/58a0ba056e09a826008b693e-2400/mig-2918108vipvovsaugust042008.jpeg" alt="MiG 29 serbia" data-mce-source="Srđan Popović via Wikimedia Commons" data-mce-caption="MiG-29 of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence." data-link="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_MiG-29#/media/File:MiG-29_18108_V_i_PVO_VS,_august_04,_2008.JPG" /></p><p></p>
<p>BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) &mdash; Serbia's defense minister says the country is getting a shipment of Russian fighter jets, supplies that could worsen tensions with neighboring states.</p>
<p>Defense Minister Zoran Djordjevic said after returning Sunday from one of his frequent visits to Moscow that six MiG-29s will be delivered to Serbia.</p>
<p>Djordjevic says Russia also is providing experts to upgrade the aircraft acquired from Russian Army reserves.</p>
<p>Serbia's arming has triggered alarms in the Balkans, which was engulfed by a bloody war in the 1990s that killed more than 110,000 people and left millions homeless.</p>
<p>Serbia formally has been on the path to joining the European Union, but under pressure from Moscow has steadily slid toward the Kremlin and its goal of keeping the country out of NATO and other Western institutions.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-us-helicopters-unloaded-in-germany-to-boost-combat-presence-2017-2" >US unloading combat helicopters to Germany as Russian threat rises</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-defense-minister-says-serbia-will-get-russian-fighter-jets-2017-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bud-light-dilly-dilly-viral-commercial-super-bowl-campaign-2017-12">What 'Dilly Dilly' means — and how Bud Light came up with its viral campaign</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-france-arrests-former-kosovo-pm-sought-by-serbia-2017-1France arrests former Kosovo Prime Minister sought by Serbia for war crimeshttp://www.businessinsider.com/afp-france-arrests-former-kosovo-pm-sought-by-serbia-2017-1
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 04:12:00 -0500
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/586e0caff10a9a1d008b6b73-667/undefined" alt="afp france arrests former kosovo pm sought by serbia" data-mce-source="AFP" data-mce-caption="Ramush Haradinaj, pictured in 2012, is a former leader of paramilitaries who fought for Kosovo to gain independence." /></p><p>Paris (AFP) - A former prime minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, was arrested in France on Wednesday in response to an international arrest warrant for war crimes filed by Serbia.</p>
<p>Haradinaj &mdash; who has been twice tried and acquitted &mdash; is a former leader of paramilitaries who fought for Kosovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian province of Serbia, to gain independence.</p>
<p>He was arrested on his arrival from the Kosovo capital Pristina at Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport, located near the Swiss and German borders, sources close to the French investigation said.</p>
<p>The French judicial authorities will now examine the Serbian request, they said.</p>
<p>In Pristina, Kosovo's justice minister Dhurata Hoxha, confirmed Haradinaj, 48, had been detained. "We will take every step to ensure that Haradinaj is released as soon as possible," Hoxha said.</p>
<p>The 1998-99 Kosovo conflict was the last war of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. It culminated in a NATO bombing campaign against Serbia and, in 2008, in Kosovo's independence, which is still not recognised by Belgrade.</p>
<p>Haradinaj, a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the war, became prime minister in 2004 but stepped down after just over three months to face 37 charges of war crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).</p>
<p>He was acquitted in 2008, and again in a partial retrial in 2012. But Serbia has maintained pressure for a new trial, and issued an international arrest warrant, which led to his brief detention while transiting Slovenia in June 2015.</p>
<p>Serbia says his unit, the so-called Black Eagles, tortured and killed dozens of Serbian civilians, whose bodies were found near Radonjic lake in the Decani region.</p>
<p>Haradinaj was a former comrade-in-arms of Kosovo's current president, Hashim Thaci, but is now a political adversary, notable for opposing any attempt to normalise relations between Pristina and Belgrade.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-france-arrests-former-kosovo-pm-sought-by-serbia-2017-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/suki-kim-north-korea-sent-hundreds-cheerleaders-olympics-2018-2">Why North Korea sent hundreds of cheerleaders to the Olympics</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-russia-relationship-europe-eu-2016-12Serbia is playing 'a game of high-stakes poker' with its relationship to Russiahttp://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-russia-relationship-europe-eu-2016-12
Wed, 21 Dec 2016 14:02:22 -0500Gordana Knezevic
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5815eeda5124c9c407261a31-728" alt="Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic sits during the plenary session " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic sits during the plenary session &amp;quotReconciliation and a Shared Society&amp;quot at the Clinton Global Initiative 2016 (CGI) in New York" /></p><p>What to make of Serbian-Russian relations at this critical juncture in global affairs?</p>
<p>The pace of diplomatic visits and gift exchanges has picked up recently, but one gets the sense that both sides doth protest too much. The sudden burst of enthusiasm may be all that it appears, or it may be a sign that relations between Belgrade and Moscow have hit a rocky patch that requires smoothing over with gifts and visits.</p>
<p>Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is currently in Moscow, and less than 10 days ago Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Belgrade. Meanwhile, it has been announced that Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, whose visit has been postponed a few times, will visit Belgrade in the first quarter of 2017.</p>
<p>On his recent visit, Lavrov said that "the Kremlin is ready to boost Serbia's defense capacity." In Moscow, Vucic is scheduled to meet with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to finalize the arrangements for a special gift to Serbia of six MiG-29 fighters. The warplanes are out of service in Russia, and Serbia will pay for their overhaul and modernization.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2016&amp;mm=12&amp;dd=19&amp;nav_id=99992" target="_blank">B92 quoted</a> Ivan Safronov, a journalist with the Moscow daily Kommersant, as reporting that Russia's aim is to boost its interests in a region where most countries are now NATO members.</p>
<p>Kommersant also quoted one of Moscow's most reliable friends in Belgrade, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, as saying: "Serbia will never become an anti-Russian state and we will never join sanctions against Russia."</p>
<p>He might as well have said: "We will never be like Montenegro."</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/549f2b7aeab8ea58018b456c-2400/russia-serbia-military-drill-november-2014-troops.jpg" alt="Russia Serbia Military Drill November 2014 Troops" data-mce-source="Marko Djurica/Reuters" /></p>
<p>Montenegro, Serbia's smaller southern neighbor, is on the brink of becoming NATO's 29th member, pending approval by its parliament and the rest of the current member states of the alliance.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rferl.org/a/opec-russia-others-agree-oil-output-cut/28100046.html" target="_blank">Montenegrin prosecutors</a>&nbsp;and other officials in Podgorica, meanwhile, have <a href="http://www.rferl.org/a/opec-russia-others-agree-oil-output-cut/28126358.html" target="_blank">implicated Russians</a> in an attempted coup on election day whose aim was to assassinate the outgoing prime minister and install a pro-Russian government in Podgorica.</p>
<p>This failure, and Montenegro's likely "defection," may explain Moscow's perceived desire to rein in Serbia and increase Belgrade's dependence on Russian military equipment.</p>
<p>The Russian "gift" of six jets, for which Serbia may in fact end up paying around $50 million according to media estimates of the cost of the necessary overhaul, has nevertheless been welcomed in Serbia.</p>
<p>An opposition lawmaker from Vojvodina, Nenad Canak, is <a href="http://www.blic.rs/vesti/politika/intervju-nenad-canak-za-rusiju-je-srbija-kusur-u-pregovorima-sa-zapadom/83syxw1" target="_blank">virtually the lone voice</a> expressing concern over his country's dependence on Russia: "It's clear that Russia views Serbia as its colony in the heart of Europe...and it is equally clear that we should be wary of what appears to be a concerted Russian diplomatic offensive [aimed at destabilizing Europe]."</p>
<p>However, Florian Bieber, a Balkan expert and director of the Center for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz, in Austria, disagrees, and says that Russian influence in Serbia is overstated.</p>
<p>"Both Serbia and Russia have much to gain from playing up their ties," <a href="http://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/bieber-srbija-rusija-blefiraju-u-pokeru-sa-evropom/28171972.html" target="_blank">Bieber said.</a> "The current Serbian government can pour cold water on its nationalist [and anti-Western] critics, while at the same time using supposed Russian influence as a bargaining chip in its negotiations with Europe over EU membership. This is a game of high-stakes poker in which Serbia is bluffing with its Russian hand, which is far weaker than it appears, while Russia gets to appear more influential in the region than it is in reality."</p>
<p>In either case, Russia's gift to Serbia of fighter jets, which not only need refitting but also come with so much else attached, brings to mind the saying that the most expensive lunch you can get is a free lunch.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-russia-iran-meet-us-2016-12" >NATO's 2nd-largest military is 'bending' to Russia — and leaving the US out in the cold</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-russia-relationship-europe-eu-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-human-breasts-big-2018-2">The science of why human breasts are so big</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-conservative-serbia-becomes-unlikely-sex-change-centre-2016-12The sex change capital is in one of the most homophobic countries in the worldhttp://www.businessinsider.com/afp-conservative-serbia-becomes-unlikely-sex-change-centre-2016-12
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 04:59:00 -0500Katarina Subasic and Rachel O'Brien
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5847d910e02ba78f1c8b79b2-768" alt="An anonymous Italian patient (L) shaked hands with Serbian Professor Miroslav Djordjevic, after his sex change operations at a specialised clinic in Belgrade" data-mce-source="AFP / Andrej Isakovic" data-mce-caption="An anonymous Italian patient (L) shaked hands with Serbian Professor Miroslav Djordjevic, after his sex change operations at a specialised clinic in Belgrade" /></p><p>Belgrade (AFP) - In a country where Gay Pride parades require massive security and almost half the citizens think homosexuality is a disease, Serbia is drawing patients from around the world seeking sex change operations to become men.</p>
<p>Offering experts in the field for a fraction of the cost in western Europe and America, Belgrade has become a surprising centre for the complex gender reassignment surgery.</p>
<p>One Italian patient began the transition to become a man 14 years ago and visited Belgium, Britain and Germany looking for the best clinic to complete the procedure.</p>
<p>In the end the 38-year-old anaesthetist chose the Belgrade Centre for Genital Reconstructive Surgery, led by Miroslav Djordjevic, a professor of urology and surgery in the Serbian capital.</p>
<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5847dabdba6eb6d3008b7d82-2400/undefined" alt="Serbian riot police guard Serbia's gay pride march in Belgrade, Serbia" data-mce-source="Darko Vojinovic / AP / Press Association Images" data-mce-caption="Serbian riot police guard Serbia's gay pride march in Belgrade, Serbia" /></p>
<p>"I did a lot of research and contacted many centres and I found that almost everyone was a student of Professor Djordjevic, so I wanted to go to the source of this knowledge," said the bearded and softly-spoken patient, speaking to AFP a few days after surgery.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He asked to be identified only by the initials A.T.</p>
<p>Djordjevic operates on about 100 international sex change patients each year from countries including Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Australia and the United States. Another 20 or so come from around the former Yugoslavia.</p>
<p>Eighty-five percent of his patients are seeking female-to-male operations, a rarer and more complicated procedure than the reverse.</p>
<p>For general healthcare Serbia is not widely considered a medical tourism destination, although it does draw some foreigners seeking cheap dentistry</p>
<p>Take, for example, gallstone treatment in Serbia, which "is five times cheaper than in Germany, but nobody comes here for gallstone treatment," said 51-year-old Djordjevic.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5847db4eba6eb64e018b745f-2400/undefined" alt="A Serbian police officer stands by a protester that holds an anti-gay banner, during an anti-gay march organized in Belgrade" data-mce-source="Darko Vojinovic / AP / Press Association Images" data-mce-caption="A Serbian police officer stands by a protester that holds an anti-gay banner, during an anti-gay march organized in Belgrade" /></p>
<p>He said patients come to his centre, which opened in 2006, because it's one of fewer than 20 around the world that can perform the full female-to-male surgery -- and it's unique because "we perform everything in one stage".</p>
<p>"We do, at the same stage, the removal of the breasts, removal of female internal genitalia... and then we finish our surgery with the creation of a neophallus," he explained.</p>
<p>This medical speciality started in Serbia in the late 1980s under Djordjevic's mentor Sava Perovic, a surgeon who pioneered developments in treatment for transgenders.</p>
<p>Another centre in his name, the Sava Perovic Foundation, also performs female-to-male sex changes in Belgrade.</p>
<p>Media-savvy Djordjevic denies that value-for-money is the main reason for Serbia's popularity, although A.T. paid 15,000 euros ($16,000) in Serbia for surgery that would have cost 60,000 euros in Britain.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Italian patient said he could have had his operation for free at home but he believed the surgeons there lacked enough experience.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5847dd7fba6eb66d268b7a52-2400/undefined" alt="Gay rights activists hold up a rainbow flag during gay pride march in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday" data-mce-source="Darko Vojinovic / AP / Press Association Images" /></p>
<p>David Ralph, a London-based consultant urologist who specialises in penile construction,&nbsp;said lower hospital costs rather than surgical expenses appeared to be what drove down prices in Serbia.</p>
<p>"At the end of the day the patients get the same," Ralph told AFP, although he said he preferred to do female-to-male surgery in a series of smaller operations to reduce the chance of complications.</p>
<p>In any case the pre-surgical procedure is lengthy: a patient should undergo a thorough psychiatric evaluation and hormone treatment totalling up to two years.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Serbia's success in this special strand of medical tourism is incongruous with the widespread attitudes towards gays and transgenders in the patriarchal country of seven million people.</p>
<p>At Belgrade's Gay Pride march in 2010, hardline nationalists attacked participants and clashed with police, wounding 150 people and prompting officials to ban the parade for the next three years.</p>
<p>Thousands of riot police are now deployed for the annual event and the city centre is locked down.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5847dc3ae02ba72a008b7cde-2400/undefined" alt="A member of the Serbian riot police is assisted by passer by, during the anti gay riots in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010." data-mce-source="STR / AP / Press Association Images" data-mce-caption="A member of the Serbian riot police is assisted by passer by, during the anti gay riots in Belgrade, 2010." /></p>
<p>A UN-backed survey on discrimination in late 2013 showed that 49 percent of Serbians believed homosexuality was a disease that should be treated.</p>
<p>Transgenders face even greater stigma and "suffer a tremendous amount of violence, bullying, rejection" from a young age, according to activist Milan Djuric, who also goes by the name of Agatha and works for a local NGO, Gayten-LGBT.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Attacks reported last year included a couple beaten in a southern Serbia cafe because one of them was transgender, and a transgender woman who was attacked on a public bus in Belgrade.</p>
<p>In a milestone move, the government agreed in 2012 to bear two-thirds of the cost for its own citizens' sex change operations.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"But it doesn't solve a whole array of other issues of concern,"&nbsp;said Djuric, who is campaigning for a gender identity law to help transgender people, particularly in changing their personal documents.</p>
<p>Italian A.T. said he was unaware of the level of prejudice that existed across Serbia, but expressed relief at finding somewhere to finish his operation successfully.</p>
<p>"It is relaxing to be finally at the end of the transformation," he said.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/david-clarke-transgender-comments-trump-dhs-2016-11" >Top Trump Cabinet candidate claimed trans individuals 'suffer from mental disorders,' live a 'freakish lifestyle'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-conservative-serbia-becomes-unlikely-sex-change-centre-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gay-man-narrowly-escaped-death-by-isis-2015-12">This gay Syrian man narrowly escaped being killed by ISIS</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-radical-islam-breeds-in-deprived-corner-of-serbia-2016-12A Muslim majority city in Serbia has become a breeding ground for Islamist extremistshttp://www.businessinsider.com/afp-radical-islam-breeds-in-deprived-corner-of-serbia-2016-12
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:29:00 -0500Rusmir Smajilhodzic, Nicolas Gaudichet
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5846c723ba6eb61b008b7a1f-2400" alt="Muslims shout slogans and wave Turkish and Bosnian flags during a protest march against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also cartoons published by a French magazine that denigrate the Prophet Mohammad, in Novi Pazar, Serbia." data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Muslims shout slogans and wave Turkish and Bosnian flags during a protest march against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also cartoons published by a French magazine that denigrate the Prophet Mohammad, in Novi Pazar, Serbia." /></p><p></p>
<p>Novi Pazar (Serbia) (AFP) - In a country proud of its Orthodox Christianity, the Serbian city of Novi Pazar is a place apart: young bearded men in ankle-length trousers stroll the streets, the restaurants don't serve alcohol, and the call of the muezzin punctuates the daily routine.</p>
<p>Faced with massive unemployment and a feeling of exclusion against the backdrop of the Syrian war, this Muslim majority area of southwest Serbia has become a breeding ground for Islamist extremists.</p>
<p>"Death in the way of Allah in Syria, 14 May 2013, aged 27" was a notice once posted on the concrete walls of Novi Pazar, which lies in the region of Sandzak.</p>
<p>Killed in Aleppo, Eldar Kundakovic used to be one of the young men aimlessly strolling the town, where around half of the 100,000 residents are jobless and a third of the population is under the age of 19, according to the latest census.</p>
<p>Kundakovic, who belonged to the ultra-conservative Salafist movement, divided his time between prayer rooms and the tailor shop run by his father, who since the death of his son has spent time at mosques trying to dissuade youngsters from becoming violent radicals.</p>
<p>Novi Pazar is a city without an airport or train station, served by bad roads and enclosed by mountains, where the poverty rate is 50 percent, according to Serbia's statistics institute, making the Sandzak region the most deprived area of the Balkan country.</p>
<p>A centre of textiles and commerce, it did not withstand the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. A large number of the warehouses which employed thousands of workers fell into disuse.</p>
<h2>'Silent radicalisation'&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Serbia estimates around 40 of its citizens have left to join the jihad in Syria and Iraq, some of whom have since returned or died there.</p>
<p>They were mostly either youths from the Sandzak region or members of the ethnic Albanian community in the neighbouring Presevo valley.</p>
<p>Those who return are monitored by powerful intelligence services that date back to the Yugoslav era. Eastward departures have dropped off since the Islamic State group has begun to retreat.</p>
<p>But the presence of Salafist "humanitarian organisations", ostensibly helping the needy in Sandzak, have become a cause of concern.</p>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5846c7a2e02ba730208b76dd-2400" alt="Muslims pray in a mosque before a protest march against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also cartoons published by a French magazine that denigrate the Prophet Mohammad, in Novi Pazar, Serbia." data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Muslims pray in a mosque before a protest march against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also cartoons published by a French magazine that denigrate the Prophet Mohammad, in Novi Pazar, Serbia." /></p>
<p>In an April 2015 report, DamaD, a local cultural centre, said these groups had "completely isolated themselves from the rest of society" and were "committed to very conservative views on religion which support jihadist fights".</p>
<p>The region's official Islamic authorities have meanwhile become weaker after splitting into two rival structures.&nbsp;</p>
<p>According to Serbian media, youths who left for Syria frequented in particular an association called Furkan, whose followers are linked to a hardline Wahhabi community in northeastern Bosnia. One of them fired shots at the US embassy in Sarajevo in October 2011.</p>
<p>In 2014, the association disappeared after the dismantling of a jihadist network whose members were also part of Furkan.</p>
<p>"But where are the people who were part of it?" asked Fahrudin Kladnicanin of Forum10, an initiative dealing with integration issues.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"A lot of young people participated in their activities, their conferences. I think that... they are still working on silent radicalisation of some youngsters." &nbsp;</p>
<h2>'Double standards'</h2>
<p>In his pizzeria close to the city's football stadium, 44-year-old Admir, who declined to give his last name, acknowledged that "penniless students" receive aid from his religious association "Put Sredine" (The Middle Way).</p>
<p>He denied any foreign financing, claiming his association ran on money from its members. He also rejects violence, but expressed disgust towards Shiites, "a sect", and Israel, "the world's biggest terrorist".</p>
<p>But what Novi Pazar needs most is development, &nbsp;says Kladnicanin of Forum10. "In last 10 years there has been no investment in Sandzak, not a single factory was opened," he said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>City Mayor Nihat Bisevac says it was more realistic to rely on financial support from Sandzak's diaspora, which remains deeply involved in Novi Pazar -- as is clear from the large number of foreign car registration plates.</p>
<p>Still, another hope for the future is a planned highway between the Montenegrin port of Bar and the Serbian capital Belgrade, which is likely to pass near Novi Pazar. But there is no timetable yet for its construction.</p>
<p>In addition to this economic situation, Serbian Muslims are "victims of double standards", according to the mufti of the local Islamic community, Mevlud Dudic.</p>
<p>He said Serbs made up 80 percent of Novi Pazar's police force until recently -- despite the city being 80 percent Muslim. Following a drive to improve the balance, Muslims now make up a third of the force.</p>
<p>Muamer Zukorlic, a&nbsp;former mufti and now the member of parliament for Novi Pazar, considers there is a "low level of extremist behaviour" given the circumstances, but warns that "the bad economy, social situation, poor infrastructure -- it all steps up the tension".&nbsp;</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-seeing-tons-of-momentum-2016-3" >1 country in the 'powder keg of Europe' is seeing tons of momentum</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-radical-islam-breeds-in-deprived-corner-of-serbia-2016-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/future-olympics-no-country-wants-to-host-games-2018-2">No one wants to host the Olympics anymore — will they go away?</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/liberland-relations-donald-trump-europe-2016-12A European country that may not be real is angling for good relations with Donald Trumphttp://www.businessinsider.com/liberland-relations-donald-trump-europe-2016-12
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:24:57 -0500Christopher Woody
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5846bcdeba6eb6771b8b77a2-2400" alt="Liberland eastern Europe" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Antonio Bronic" data-mce-caption="The self-proclaimed president of the &amp;quotFree Republic of Liberland,&amp;quot Vit Jedlicka, center, poses with the Liberland flag and future citizenships in the village of Backi Monostor, Serbia, May 1, 2015. Jedlicka, a Czech citizen, has proclaimed a new sovereign state lying on the border between Croatia and Serbia. According to the founders, the plot of land they chose remained unclaimed by Croatia, Serbia, or any other country when the border was drawn, and the nearest settlements are Zmajevac in Croatia and Backi Monostor in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Its size of around 7 square kilometers would make &amp;quotLiberland&amp;quot the third-smallest sovereign state in Europe, after Vatican City and Monaco." /></p><p></p>
<p>"There are many ties and shared ideas between Liberland and President Trump," the self-proclaimed president of Liberland, Vit Jedlicka, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">told</a> The Washington Post this weekend.</p>
<p>Jedlicka declared sovereignty over a 3-square-mile spit of land on the Danube River in April 2015, taking advantage of a decades-long dispute between Croatia and Serbia over their border.</p>
<p>Jedlicka, a Czech citizen <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-eccentric-president-of-liberland-the-worlds-newest-micronation-2015-4" target="_blank">with libertarian leanings</a> and a Euroskeptic, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">found out</a> about the territory while reading about "terra nullius" &mdash; "nobody's land" in Latin &mdash; on Wikipedia.</p>
<p>While Jedlicka is optimistic about relations between his country and the Trump administration, the nascent relationship faces a peculiar and significant hurdle: Neither the US nor any other country recognizes Liberland's existence.</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5846bb23ba6eb6771b8b77a1-2400/ap103396378835.jpg" alt="Liberland eastern Europe" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic" data-mce-caption="Liberland disputed territory seen from across the Danube river, near Backi Monostor, Serbia, May 1, 2015. The inauguration of world's new mini-state in the war-torn Balkans may sound as an elaborate joke by international organizers, but Croats and Serbs aren't laughing. The so-called Free Republic of Liberland, a 7-square-kilometer swampy patch of isolated land on the banks of the Danube river border between Serbia and Croatia &mdash; which fought a war in the 1990s &mdash; has been blocked by police in both states." /></p>
<p>Jedlicka has links with anti-establishment political movements elsewhere in Europe, and he recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">appointed</a> Thomas Walls, a US citizen, as Liberland's foreign minister.</p>
<p>Jedlicka <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-eccentric-president-of-liberland-the-worlds-newest-micronation-2015-4" target="_blank">told Business Insider</a> in April 2015 that he was against most forms of government assistance and that taxes in his country would be voluntary.</p>
<p>"We don&rsquo;t really care that much, because the government will have very little expenditure," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-eccentric-president-of-liberland-the-worlds-newest-micronation-2015-4" target="_blank">he said at the time</a>. "We will have so much money that we will not know how to spend it."</p>
<p>Jedlicka also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">told The Post</a>&nbsp;plans to attend Trump's inauguration in January were in the works, but he wouldn't say precisely who his connection to the US president-elect was.</p>
<p>"We can say we have a strong supporter of Liberland who is a close adviser to one of Trump's already announced cabinet picks and somewhat famous in his own right," Walls <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">told The Post</a>. "Another member of the Liberland team has just published one of Trump's books in Europe."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mexican-governor-calling-for-boycott-of-texas-trump-carrier-2016-12" >A maverick Mexican governor is calling for a Texas boycott in response to Trump's Carrier deal</a></strong></p>
<h3>According to the founders of Liberland, the plot of land they chose remained unclaimed by Croatia, Serbia, or any other country when the border was drawn, and the nearest settlements are Zmajevac in Croatia and Backi Monostor in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia.</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5846b977e02ba75c658b6901-400-300/according-to-the-founders-of-liberland-the-plot-of-land-they-chose-remained-unclaimed-by-croatia-serbia-or-any-other-country-when-the-border-was-drawn-and-the-nearest-settlements-are-zmajevac-in-croatia-and-backi-monostor-in-the-autonomous-province-of-vojvodina-serbia.jpg" alt="" />
<br/><br/><h3>Croatia has dismissed it as a joke, and Serbia has detained Jedlicka and others while trying to enter the territory. According to The Post, only people with a "communist, Nazi or extremist past" are barred from citizenship, and hundreds of thousands — including about 12,000 Americans — have signed up.</h3>
<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5846bcdeba6eb6771b8b77a2-400-300/croatia-has-dismissed-it-as-a-joke-and-serbia-has-detained-jedlicka-and-others-while-trying-to-enter-the-territory-according-to-the-post-only-people-with-a-communist-nazi-or-extremist-past-are-barred-from-citizenship-and-hundreds-of-thousands--including-about-12000-americans--have-signed-up.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><em>Source: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/12/06/liberland-a-country-that-may-not-exist-says-it-hopes-to-build-close-ties-to-trump-white-house/?postshare=1611481027645626&amp;tid=ss_tw&amp;utm_term=.1a583ece2b84" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a></em></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>Jedlicka ran for office several times in the Czech Republic. He won a minor regional seat but grew frustrated when he realized he would be unable to make any meaningful changes.</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5846bbfbe02ba75f658b6964-400-300/jedlicka-ran-for-office-several-times-in-the-czech-republic-he-won-a-minor-regional-seat-but-grew-frustrated-when-he-realized-he-would-be-unable-to-make-any-meaningful-changes.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-eccentric-president-of-liberland-the-worlds-newest-micronation-2015-4" target="_blank">Business Insider</a></em></p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/liberland-relations-donald-trump-europe-2016-12#/#jedlicka-said-he-was-motivated-to-start-liberland-after-people-asked-why-he-didnt-start-his-own-country-modeled-after-hong-kong-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-foreign-business-connections-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-2016-11Rudy Giuliani calls comparisons to Hillary Clinton 'nuts' amid scrutiny over foreign business connectionshttp://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-foreign-business-connections-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-2016-11
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 23:38:54 -0500Chris Sanchez
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/582fb6c2ba6eb603688b468b-2283/ap080129023539.jpg" alt="AP080129023539" data-mce-source="AP/Gerald Herbert" data-mce-caption="Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) during his 2008 presidential campaign." /></p><p></p>
<p>Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is responding to scrutiny over his foreign business connections as talk of him potentially joining the Trump administration continues.</p>
<p>In a CNN interview on Friday, Giuliani seemed to take umbrage at a suggestion that his paid work as a consultant to foreign governments was similar to accusations that Hillary Clinton engaged to pay-to-play schemes during her time as secretary of state under the Obama administration.</p>
<p>Giuliani himself <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-favorite-to-be-donald-trumps-secretary-of-state-2016-11">was seen as a favorite for secretary of state</a>, for president-elect Donald Trump.</p>
<p>"These comparisons to Hillary Clinton are nuts because I was in private business ... I'm not a government official," <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/politics/kfile-giuliani-interview/index.html">Giuliani told CNN's KFile on Friday</a>.</p>
<p>According to CNN, Giuliani appeared on a Serbian talk show in 2012 where he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/17/politics/kfile-giuliani-serbia/">discussed some of his work in the region</a>. He says he was paid for the consulting work he provided.</p>
<p>In an interview with <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/donald-trump-cabinet-rudy-giuliani.html">The New York Times </a>on Tuesday, Giuliani said his business deals were nothing out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>"I have friends all over the world. ... This is not a new thing for me. When you become the mayor, you become interested in foreign policy. When I left, my major work was legal and security around the world," he said.</p>
<p>Giuliani is among a growing list of politicians who may join the Trump administration.</p>
<p>Trump continued to make appointments this week, tapping Alabama Sen. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-sessions-attorney-general-2016-11">Jeff Sessions as his attorney general</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-tweets-hillary-clinton-2016-11">Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-pompeo-cia-director-trump-2016-11">Rep. Mike Pompeo as CIA director</a>.</p>
<p>Trump has also selected RNC chairman <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-chair-reince-priebus-donald-trump-chief-of-staff-2016-11">Reince Priebus as chief of staff and Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon</a> to be his chief strategist.</p>
<p>Trump will be inaugurated on January 20.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-foreign-business-connections-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-2016-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/r-vote-for-trump-serbian-ultra-nationalists-chant-as-biden-visits-2016-8Hundreds of ultra-nationalist Serbians protested Joe Biden's visit by chanting 'Vote for Trump!'http://www.businessinsider.com/r-vote-for-trump-serbian-ultra-nationalists-chant-as-biden-visits-2016-8
Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:18:00 -0400Fedja Grulovic
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/57b3469b5124c91b48193081-450-300/vote-for-trump-serbian-ultra-nationalists-chant-as-biden-visits-2016-8.jpg" alt="U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic during welcome ceremony inspect honor guards in Belgrade, Serbia, August 16, 2016. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic " border="0" /></p><p>BELGRADE (Reuters) - Hundreds of Serbian ultra-nationalists protested on Tuesday against U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Belgrade by chanting their support for the man he says is making the United States less safe - Donald Trump.</p>
<p>"Vote for Trump! Vote for Trump!" the protesters, wearing T-shirts displaying an image of the U.S. Republican candidate, shouted as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building.</p>
<p>Biden was on a one-day visit to Belgrade before traveling to Kosovo, with officials saying he will encourage both countries to do more to normalize their relations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.</p>
<p>The United States is highly popular among Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians, who regard Washington as their savior for the U.S.-led NATO air strikes in 1999 that halted killings by Serbian forces waging a counter-insurgency war. But resentment still runs high in Serbia over NATO's intervention.</p>
<p>"Trump is the alternative to globalization. He will destroy old center of power in the United States and he is a supporter of Russia," Vojislav Seselj, head of Serbia's ultra-nationalist Radical Party, told Reuters when asked why he was backing Trump.</p>
<p>Biden, a Democrat, said on Monday that Trump's remark that President Barack Obama had founded Islamic State had increased threats to the physical safety of U.S. troops in Iraq.</p>
<p>At the time of the ultra-nationalist rally, Biden was in a government building in another part of Belgrade barred to protesters during his visit.</p>
<p>Trump's volatile campaign, which has included calls for a border wall with Mexico to keep out immigrants and a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, has pricked the interest of some right-wing and nationalist leaders abroad.</p>
<p>Seselj, who was acquitted in March of war crimes by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, urged Serbian-Americans to vote for Trump in the November U.S. presidential election.</p>
<p>Victims of atrocities in Bosnia's 1992-95 war reacted with dismay in March to the acquittal of Seselj, who was accused of stoking murderous ethnic hatred with fiery rhetoric in the conflicts that accompanied federal Yugoslavia's break-up into seven successor states and killed 130,000 people.</p>
<p>Seselj's Radicals are the third largest party in the Serbian parliament.&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Reporting by Fedja Grulovic; writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Mark Heinrich)</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-beau-biden-2016-8" >Biden: I 'would've thrown my body in front of' my son to keep him from military service under Trump</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-vote-for-trump-serbian-ultra-nationalists-chant-as-biden-visits-2016-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/archaeologists-unearthed-2000-year-old-magic-spells-buried-alongside-bodies-2016-8Archaeologists unearthed 2,000-year-old magic spells etched onto tiny metal rolls and buried alongside bodieshttp://www.businessinsider.com/archaeologists-unearthed-2000-year-old-magic-spells-buried-alongside-bodies-2016-8
Wed, 10 Aug 2016 10:20:00 -0400Ingrid Melander
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/57ab2af1ce38f236008b5c3a-1319/serbia-magic-amulets.jpg" alt="serbia magic amulets" data-mce-source="Djordje Kojadinovic/Reuters" data-mce-caption="View of amulets uncovered by Serbian archeologists at the Viminacium site, around 100km east from Belgrade Serbia August 8, 2016." /></p><p>Archaeologists are trying to decipher magic spells etched onto tiny rolls of gold and silver that they found alongside skeletons of humans buried almost 2,000 years ago.</p>
<p>"The alphabet is Greek, that much we know. The language is Aramaic &mdash; it's a Middle Eastern mystery to us," Miomir Korac, chief archaeologist at the site in eastern Serbia, told Reuters.</p>
<p>The skeletons were found at the foot of a massive coal-fired power station where searches are being carried out before another unit of the electricity plant is built on the site of an ancient Roman city.</p>
<p>Last week, after carefully brushing away soil from the bones, Korac's team found two amulets made of lead that, when opened, were each found to rolls of precious metal &mdash; silver and gold &mdash; covered in symbols and writing.</p>
<p>They believe the inscriptions are magic spells, taken to the grave to invoke divine powers to perform good or evil.</p>
<p>"We read the names of a few demons, that are connected to the territory of modern-day Syria," archaeologist Ilija Dankovic said at the dig, as more skeletons from the 4th century A.D. were being uncovered.</p>
<p>The fragile, golden and silver scrolls &mdash; which once unrolled look like rectangles of foil similar in size to a sweet wrapper &mdash; may never be fully understood.</p>
<p><img class="full" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/57ab2c26db5ce954008b5bd4-1321/serbia-amulets-skeleton-archaeology.jpg" alt="serbia amulets skeleton archaeology" data-mce-source="Djordje Kojadinovic/Reuters" data-mce-caption="An archaeologist works over an uncovered skeleton at the Viminacium site, around 100km east from Belgrade, Serbia August 8, 2016." /></p>
<p>They are the first such items discovered in Serbia but resemble amulets of "binding magic" found in other countries, Dankovic said.</p>
<p>"They were often love charms, ordering someone to fall in love, but there were also dark, malignant curses, to the tune of: 'may your body turn dead, as cold and heavy as this lead,'" he said.</p>
<p>Magic charms tended to be buried with dead children or adults who had suffered a violent death, Dankovic said, because of a belief that "souls of such people took longer to find rest and had a better chance of finding demons and deities and pass the wishes to them so they could do their magic."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-find-ancient-archaeological-sites-from-your-computer-2016-2" >You can now explore ancient archaeological sites from your computer</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-archaeological-discoveries-of-2015-12" >9 mind-blowing discoveries that had the archaeological community freaking out in 2015</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/archaeologists-unearthed-2000-year-old-magic-spells-buried-alongside-bodies-2016-8#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ancient-rare-etruscan-artifact-found-italy-2016-3">Archaeologists just discovered sacred text in mysterious language on a 2,500-year-old stone</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-determined-to-join-the-eu-2016-4Serbia says it is determined to join the EU despite the bloc's 'problems'http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-determined-to-join-the-eu-2016-4
Tue, 19 Apr 2016 09:07:06 -0400Aleksandar Vasovic
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/57162cfa9105842b008bd797-3684-2388/rtx1ynt2.jpg" alt="serbia Ivica Dacic" data-mce-source="Francois Lenoir/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic (R) attend a European Union-Serbia accession conference in Brussels, Belgium, December 14, 2015." /></p><p>BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia is determined to join European Union despite the bloc's "problems" but will do nothing to jeopardize its good relations with Russia, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said.</p>
<p>Dacic is also deputy prime minister in Serbia's ruling coalition that is expected to win four more years in power in Sunday's general election.</p>
<p>The government opened negotiations on EU membership last December, and hopes to complete them by 2019, but opinion polls show Serbs are increasingly skeptical about the benefits of joining given the painful economic restructuring required.</p>
<p>Years of euro zone crisis and Britain's June referendum on whether to leave the bloc have also clouded the EU's image.</p>
<p>"Clearly, the EU has problems. There's no international institution without problems in its functioning," Dacic told Reuters in an interview on Monday evening.</p>
<p>"Serbia is neither Norway nor Switzerland to say it does not need the EU. (Brexit) is a danger to the EU, not to our determination to enter the EU," he said.</p>
<p>Serbia's ties with Russia, with which it shares Slav and Orthodox Christian history, and its link with rising power China, will not be harmed by plans for accession to the EU, Dacic said.</p>
<p>Serbia relies heavily on Russia for gas and sees Russia as an important market for its agricultural exports. It holds military exercises with both NATO countries and Russia and has no plans to join NATO.</p>
<p>In 2014, Serbia refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, despite EU pressure to align its foreign policy.</p>
<p>"Serbia has no intention of making any moves that would jeopardize its EU path, but neither will it make any moves that could jeopardize ties with our traditional friends, including Russia," Dacic said.</p>
<p>The 28-nation EU is Serbia's biggest trading partner and investor and two former Yugoslav republics - Croatia and Slovenia - are already EU members.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-determined-to-join-the-eu-2016-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-explains-spacex-falcon-heavy-central-core-crash-landing-2018-2">Elon Musk explains the one thing that went wrong with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy flight</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-seeing-tons-of-momentum-2016-31 country in the 'powder keg of Europe' is seeing tons of momentumhttp://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-seeing-tons-of-momentum-2016-3
Tue, 29 Mar 2016 03:41:00 -0400Sam Aman
<p><span><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56f91da952bcd022008b91c2-2958-2219/rtx123ll.jpg" alt="umbrella canopy" data-mce-source="Reuters/Marko Djurica" data-mce-caption="People walk past underneath an umbrella canopy in downtown Belgrade." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6537ULJ&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1389&amp;RH=834#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI653B5ZC&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1389&amp;RH=834&amp;POPUPPN=26&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1OQQWLHI" />Following the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia, the Balkans seemed apt to reclaim their turn-of-the-century title of &ldquo;the powder keg of Europe.&rdquo; The region experienced a series of crippling armed conflicts and international sanctions as newly independent states struggled to find a foothold in the peninsula. Though structural challenges have kept some mired in difficulties, others today show considerable promise. </span></p>
<p><span>Over the last couple of decades, economic reforms, democratization, and strengthened legal frameworks have put several Balkan states on the path to EU accession. Having become fully independent only in 2006, Serbia, in particular, stands out as one of the nations most eager to unfasten the shackles of its troubled past and deepen its integration into the global economy.</span></p>
<p><span>Two tumultuous decades have, until very recently, left the country devoid of meaningful growth. Serbia&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/misery-index-cato-institute-2016-1">rankings</a> in the annual <a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/measuring-misery-around-world">Global Misery Index</a> (an economic indicator calculated by adding interest rates, inflation, and unemployment, and subtracting per capita GDP growth) have been unenviable, with the country consistently ranking among the top ten most &lsquo;miserable&rsquo; worldwide. The 2013 survey placed it third among the 89 evaluated nations, according to a Cato Institute report. With low inflation in recent years, Serbia&rsquo;s shortcomings on the Misery Index are disproportionately caused by its high unemployment rate, which peaked at a worrying 24% in 2012.</span></p>
<p><span>Many within Serbia make the mistake of taking such macabre statistics at face value, though the country&rsquo;s most recent performance and medium-term outlook paint a much different picture. As part of stipulations attached to a 2014 IMF loan, Belgrade has undertaken ambitious structural reforms, due largely to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić&rsquo;s desire to accelerate the process of reaching European standards.</span></p>
<p><span>The latest economic indicators have demonstrated heartening progress. Serbia&rsquo;s unemployment rate had fallen to 17.3% by 2015, still high by any standard, but nearly seven percentage points lower than the 2012 rate. The country&rsquo;s 44.8 score on the 2013 Misery Index fell by more than 25% to 32.3 in 2015, corresponding to an improvement in its ranking from third to tenth most miserable worldwide. &ldquo;Now, Serbia&rsquo;s score is still over 20, which means you still need deep structural reforms,&rdquo; said the Cato Institute&rsquo;s Steve Hanke, the creator of the index, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;re certainly not moving in the wrong direction.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span>After a 1.8% contraction in 2014, Serbia&rsquo;s GDP is expected to grow 1.8% this year, with 3.5% growth forecast for 2018. After years of budget deficits hovering around 6%, Belgrade surprised IMF and EU monitors by posting a deficit below 3% in 2015, with similar projections for 2016. Just this March, global credit rating service Moody&rsquo;s changed Serbia&rsquo;s sovereign rating outlook from stable to positive, citing better-than-expected progress in fiscal consolidation and enhancements in institutional quality as reasons for the upgrade. The welcome revision further augments the country&rsquo;s prospects for growth in the coming years. Serbia&rsquo;s steady improvement, even in the face of Greek volatility and the recent influx of refugees, is a testament to the country&rsquo;s demonstrable commitment to far-reaching structural reform.</span></p>
<p><span><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56f91e3c52bcd066018b910c-2435-1826/rtr20e27.jpg" alt="Belgrade, Serbia" data-mce-source="Reuters/Marko Djurica" data-mce-caption="General view shows the old part of Belgrade on the Sava River." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6537ULJ&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1389&amp;RH=834#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI653B5ZC&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1389&amp;RH=834&amp;POPUPPN=48&amp;POPUPIID=2C04082QOFOFO" /></span></p>
<p><span>Integral to this reform has been a revamped effort to tackle the bloated and woefully inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that dominate Serbian industries. With its private sector accounting for a mere 66% of employment in 2014 (compared to Albania and Turkey&rsquo;s 83% and 87% respectively), Serbia had long been hampered by low levels of innovation and investment. The same year, Belgrade began issuing tenders for its underperforming firms, successfully auctioning off numerous mismanaged SOEs and implementing stricter oversight frameworks for others. Restructuring has met with opposition from industry leaders with vested interests, though the impact on Serbia&rsquo;s business environment is already apparent.</span></p>
<p><span>The country jumped 9 places on the World Bank&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/10/27/big-strides-in-improving-business-climate-in-europe-and-central-asia-says-latest-doing-business-report-serbia">Ease of Doing Business</a> ranking from 2014 to 2015, with the annual report citing an improved regulatory environment and diminished barriers to market entry. Belgrade has also begun actively pursuing foreign direct investment for its beleaguered industries and insufficient infrastructure, spurring a 30% increase in FDI from 2014 to 2015. Vučić&rsquo;s state visits to China and Albania (the first ever by a Serbian leader) and meeting with Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu last year reflected this trade-oriented foreign policy agenda. </span></p>
<p><span>By December, Serbia had secured a high-level bilateral council to facilitate Turkish investment, a Chinese buyer for struggling state steelmaker Železara Smederevo and financier for a Belgrade-Budapest railway, and a joint construction deal for a road linking southern Serbia to Albania&rsquo;s Adriatic Sea port. The agreements are expected to provide a substantial employment boost to an economy wanting for jobs, as the country continues its steady descent on the Global Misery Index.</span></p>
<p><span>Though Serbia&rsquo;s recent improvements are commendable, much remains to be done in its path to sustainable growth and EU accession. Despite intensified labor inspection and oversight, a considerable portion of the population continues to work in the informal sector, complicating economic planning and diverting potential tax revenue.</span></p>
<p><span>Fiscal consolidation and economic modernization endeavors also face fierce opposition from those accustomed to reaping the spoils of Yugoslav-era clientelism, forcing Belgrade to adopt a reticent approach to reform. Such politically costly policies are vital bitter medicine that, while unpopular, will set the stage for steady medium- to long-term growth. &ldquo;The resistance to modernizing, deregulating, it&rsquo;s tangled up with the typical kind of Balkan politics,&rdquo; says Hanke. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a certain element of rearguard action, holding onto elements of the old model.&rdquo;</span></p>
<p><span>IMF and EU monitors have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/world/europe/serbia-dissolves-parliament-and-calls-early-elections.html?_r=0">urged</a> the state to begin implementing reforms more zealously, stressing that forecasts for Serbia to transcend its current sluggish growth will not be met if the government does not increase the scope of its efforts. But structural challenges notwithstanding, Serbia appears committed to its new development project. With Russia facing mounting international isolation, Belgrade has set its sights on European integration, and the guidelines for EU accession now serve as an increasingly compelling impetus for change.</span></p>
<p><span>Provided the country does not lose its appetite for reform, the recent reductions in its misery indices are likely to be met with a sizeable plunge in the coming years. After 25 years marked by war, authoritarian rule, sanctions, natural disasters, and recession, Serbia certainly has a difficult road ahead, but if recent developments are any indication, the country seems up to the challenge. &ldquo;They surely have huge, endemic, structural problems in the economy,&rdquo; says Hanke, &ldquo;but the momentum in Serbia now, I think it&rsquo;s a good sign.</span><span>&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><em><span>Sam Aman is a policy analyst and freelance journalist, formerly a Senior Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) in Washington D.C. The views expressed are his own.</span></em></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/5-biggest-risks-european-union-breakup-2016-3" >These are the 5 biggest risks to a breakup of the European Union</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/serbia-seeing-tons-of-momentum-2016-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/vince-stephanie-shane-mcmahon-wwe-successor-triple-h-jim-ross-wrestling-2018-1">JIM ROSS: Here's who will take over WWE after Vince McMahon</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/former-dictator-turned-healer-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison-for-srebrenica-genocide-2016-3Former dictator turned healer sentenced to 40 years in prison for Srebrenica genocidehttp://www.businessinsider.com/former-dictator-turned-healer-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison-for-srebrenica-genocide-2016-3
Thu, 24 Mar 2016 10:53:36 -0400Thomas Escritt and Toby Sterling
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56f3fc9691058423008b87cb-1107-830/karadzic.jpg" alt="Karadzic" data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (C) gets help from his bodyguard with his jacket following a television interview in Pale, Bosnia on September 6, 1995." /></p><p>Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic was just sentenced to 40 years in prison for Srebrenica genocide.</p>
<p>UN judges said on Thursday that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Karadzic </span>was ciminally responsible for the siege of Sarajevo and crimes against humanity in other towns and villages during the Bosnian war of the 1990s.</p>
<p>He was acquitted by The Hague tribunal of a first count of genocide in connection with the Bosnian municipalities, but judges have yet to rule on a second genocide charge -<span class="highlight"> Karadzic</span>'s involvement in the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe's worst since World War Two, in which 8,000 Muslims died.</p>
<p>Presiding judge O-Gon Kwon said the three-year Sarajevo siege, during which the city of Serbs, Muslims and Croats was shelled and sniped at by besieging Bosnian Serb forces, could not have happened without<span class="highlight"> Karadzic</span>'s support.</p>
<p>UN judges have begun the lengthy process of reading their verdict in the trial.</p>
<p><span class="highlight">Karadzic </span>is the highest-ranking person to face a reckoning before the tribunal over a war two decades ago in which 100,000 people were killed as rival armies carved Bosnia up along ethnic lines that largely survive today.</p>
<p>Among the main charges is that<span class="highlight"> Karadzic</span>, who was arrested in 2008 after 11 years on the run, controlled Serb forces that carried out the Srebrenica killings after overrunning the supposed UN-designated "safe area".</p>
<p><span class="highlight">Karadzic</span>, who once headed the self-styled Bosnian Serb Republic and was Supreme Commander of its armed forces, said in an interview ahead of the verdict that he had worked to uphold peace and deserved praise, not punishment.</p>
<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/56f3e99152bcd026008b883f-873-570/radovan-karadi-republika-srpska-1992-1996.png" alt="radovan karadi" data-mce-source="Reuters" /></p>
<p>"My permanent fight to preserve the peace, prevent the war and decrease the sufferings of everyone regardless of religion were an exemplary effort deserving respect rather than persecution," he told news portal Balkan Insight.</p>
<p>The 70-year-old former psychiatrist, still in robust health, is charged with two counts of genocide, one for Srebrenica and another for a campaign to purge Bosnian Muslims and Croats from towns around the country.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He could receive a life sentence for these and nine other counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Appeals, which could take several more years, are expected regardless of the verdict.</p>
<p>Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said he would stand by the Serbs of Bosnia.</p>
<p>"We will stand by our people and we will protect their existence and their right to have their own state," he said.</p>
<h2>Survivors await verdict</h2>
<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/55093b125afbd36e288b4567-800-541/serbia-arrests-seven-for-srebrenica-massacre-official-2015-3.jpg" alt="Bosnian Muslims pray during a mass funeral for 175 newly identified victims from the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, at Potocari Memorial Center, near Srebrenica July 11, 2014. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Bosnian Muslims pray during a mass funeral for newly identified victims from the Srebrenica massacre, at Potocari Memorial Center, near Srebrenica" /></p>
<p>The only more senior official to face justice before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in custody a decade ago before a verdict was reached.</p>
<p>Ratko Mladic, the general who commanded Bosnian Serb forces, was the last suspect to be detained over the Srebrenica slaughter and is also in a U.N. cell awaiting judgment.</p>
<p>"Justice is slow but it's coming, so we hope that this time the court will have enough courage to say what really happened, because they only need courage. Facts they already have," said Sakib Ahmetovic, a Bosnian Muslim survivor of the war.</p>
<p>Munira Subasic, whose son was among the victims of Srebrenica, said the "verdict is very important to show new generations, especially those in Serbia who have been poisoned with hatred already, what really happened in Bosnia".</p>
<p>The Srebrenica massacre and the years-long Serb siege of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, with which<span class="highlight">Karadzic </span>is also charged, were events that turned world opinion against the Serbs and prompted NATO air strikes that helped bring the war to an end.</p>
<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f7db98b6bb3f7df43000040-1280-760/gravestones at the potočari genocide memorial near srebrenica wiki michael bueker.jpg" alt="bosnia-war-genocide-yugoslavia-serbia-croatia-srebrenica-sarajevo-cemetery" data-mce-source="Wikimedia Commons/Michael Bueker" /></p>
<p><span class="highlight">Karadzic </span>defended himself through his 497-day trial and called 248 witnesses, poring over many of the millions of pages of evidence with the help of a court-appointed legal adviser.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say he conspired to purge Bosnia of its non-Serb population.</p>
<p>Rejecting the charges,<span class="highlight"> Karadzic </span>sought to portray himself as the Serbs' champion, blaming some of the sieges and shelling on Bosnian Muslims themselves. He says soldiers and civilians who committed crimes during the war acted individually.</p>
<h2>Judgments reman divisive</h2>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/56f3fda752bcd044008b88bd-4000-2804/rtsc28u (1).jpg" alt="karadzic trial" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Michael Kooren" data-mce-caption="Bosnian survivors and family members gather outside the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) before the verdict announcement in the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in the Hague, the Netherlands March 24, 2016." /></p>
<p>Opponents of the ICTY say its prosecutors have disproportionately targeted Serbs as 94 of 161 suspects charged were from the Serbian side, while 29 were Croat and nine Bosnian Muslim. [http://tmsnrt.rs/1Sd4TAa]</p>
<p>Prosecutors have been criticized for not bringing charges against two other leaders of that era who have since died - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic.</p>
<p>"If you had got prosecutions of those three (including Milosevic) then you'd get a really good picture of the way the violence was produced but we're not getting it," said Eric Gordy, an expert on the court at University College London.</p>
<p>The ICTY, set up in 1991 at the outset of federal Yugoslavia's violent break-up was meant to deter future war crimes and promote reconciliation but its judgments remain divisive.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/545a4f6b5afbd3237d8b4567-800-541/un-court-considering-releasing-ailing-serbian-war-crimes-suspect.jpg" alt="Serbs carry a flag bearing the photo of Serb ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, who is standing trial for war crimes in The Hague, during a celebration commemorating the anniversary of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo at Gazimestan, near the capital Pristina June 28, 2012. REUTERS/Hazir Reka " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Serbs carry a flag bearing the photo of Serb ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj at Gazimestan" /></p>
<p>Many Serbs, both in Bosnia and Serbia, regard the court as a pro-Western instrument, say&nbsp;<span class="highlight">Karadzic </span>is innocent and believe his conviction would be an injustice for all Serbs.</p>
<p>Their belief is strengthened by the fact that the sentencing coincides with the anniversary of the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia that led to independence for the ethnic Albania-dominated province of Kosovo.</p>
<p>Serge Brammertz, prosecutor at the tribunal, worries that its work, which is winding down, has done little to heal the war's deep wounds.</p>
<p>"I'm not convinced everyone has really understood the wrongdoings from the past," he said. "Many people in all the former Yugoslavia are still using a rhetoric that is still closer to what we heard in court than we should expect."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/radovan-karadzic-to-face-genocide-verdict-2016-3" >A dictator turned homeopathic healer is finally going to face a genocide verdict</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/former-dictator-turned-healer-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison-for-srebrenica-genocide-2016-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/look-of-silence-documentary-confronts-killers-from-1965-indonesian-genocide-2016-2">'The Look of Silence,' a film about the 1965 Indonesian genocide, looks to capture the Oscar for Best Documentary after picking up coveted 2016 Spirit Award </a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/syrian-refugees-journey-to-europe-2016-1A Syrian refugee describes his hellish journey to Europe with a 25-day-old childhttp://www.businessinsider.com/syrian-refugees-journey-to-europe-2016-1
Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:45:18 -0500Allan Smith and A.C. Fowler
<p><span>Syrian refugee Zaki Khalil entered Croatia from Serbia, and describes his hellish journey.</span></p>
<p><em style="line-height: 1.5em;">Story by Allan Smith and editing by Andrew Fowler</em></p>
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<p class="p1"><em><span class="s1"><span class="s2">[This story was originally posted on&nbsp;Oct. 23rd, 2015]</span></span></em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/syrian-refugees-journey-to-europe-2016-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>